It was an exciting week for younger generations and other Spotify users. Well, I suppose I can’t speak for everyone, but I certainly enjoy Spotify Wrapped week.

For those who don’t know, Spotify is a music streaming app, similar to Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, etc. And, this week, Spotify released what they call Spotify Wrapped.

Throughout the year, Spotify will keep track of the music, podcasts, audiobooks, etc., that you stream through their app. With this data, your Spotify Wrapped is generated and can show you what you listened to most and when, along with other statistics.

It will show you your top artists, songs, albums, and more. It can also tell you how many minutes you spent streaming content through their app as well as the day you streamed the most minutes.

My personal Wrapped showed that I had 46,287 Minutes Listened this year, which roughly equates to 771 hours or 32 days of nonstop listening. It claimed that this puts me in the top 6% of listeners worldwide, and Spotify has over 640 million active listeners.

What’s interesting to me is that this is just a portion of my listening habits since I collect vinyl records and often listen to them as well. I also stream podcasts on a different app, so I can only imagine what the final number of Minutes Listened could be.

Spotify Wrapped will also show you how many songs you streamed throughout the year as well as the song you streamed most and how many times you did so.

And each year, Spotify tries something new. This year, Spotify Wrapped provided “phases” that you went through in a given month, which were as simple as Beach Life Indie to the quirky Pink Princess Strut Pop, or so that’s what it told me for May and August. In previous years, they would share graphs of what genres you listened to most or another fun way to showcase your music taste.

Spotify Wrapped is a highly anticipated thing for many people, myself included. Quite simply, it’s just fun.

I’ve always been passionate about music, and this fuels the fire, making it more intricate and intimate.

Music is a type of self-expression, too. It’s a light-hearted, creative way to showcase who you are and what you enjoy.

It’s also interesting to see what others are listening to, as many people will share their results on social media the day Spotify Wrapped is released, as well as summaries from other streaming apps aside from Spotify that provide statistics.

Looking at close friends’ posts, you often aren’t surprised by their results, as it’s just showing who they are and what they like to listen to when, in reality, you already knew.

But, with others you may not know as well, like people you haven’t talked to since high school or college, you can start to imagine who they are now based on their taste in music. It’s also a way to see how much in common you might have if certain songs or artists are present on both of your Spotify Wrapped lists.

I see Spotify Wrapped as a “small-world” moment, too. We are connected by such a simple thing despite how vast the world is, like seeing a celebrity who might also have a statistic in common with you or knowing that a top song in America was also a top song in Australia.

It’s one of those things that bring us together and help us relate to one another in a friendly and fun manner.

Spotify Wrapped is something that in theory is so small, but it can play such a big role in bringing people together and even brightening their day, making them feel seen and appreciated.

Torianna Marasco can be reached at 989-358-5686 or tmarasco@thealpenanews.com.